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Europe

New Reports Detail Little Progress in Fight Against Soft Censorship

Posted on October 29, 2015 Leave a Comment

Soft censorship continues to be a major threat to press freedom and the governments of Hungary, Mexico and Serbia appear unwilling to follow recommendations that would guarantee a non-discriminatory allocation of public funds and government advertising across the media.updates-and-logo-w

This is the common conclusion of three new reports examining soft censorship practices in Hungary, Mexico and Serbia launched today by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) in Washington D.C.

Official soft censorship, or indirect censorship, is defined as “an array of official actions intended to influence media output, short of legal or extra-legal bans, direct censorship of specific content, or physical attacks on media outlets or media practitioners.”

Published with the support of the Open Society Foundations and research partners Mertek Media Monitor (Hungary), BIRN Serbia, and Fundar (Mexico), the three new reports provide an updated analysis of the situation as uncovered in detailed country studies conducted in 2013.

By using financial power to pressure media outlets, punish critical reporting and reward favourable coverage, biased government intervention in media sectors across the three countries not only distorts the market, but also makes it difficult for media to exercise their essential watchdog role.

“Articles of Asphyxiation: Soft Censorship in Hungary 2015 Update” shows that pressures on free and independent media
in Hungary are accelerating and that the Fidesz government is enacting new and ever-broader laws and regulations that aim to control media output. The introduction of an advertising tax and other recently passed laws, together with the unfair and opaque allocation of government advertising show that intervention in the media market aggressively increased throughout 2014 and the first half of 2015.

“Media Reform Stalled in the Slow Lane: Soft Censorship in Serbia 2015 Update” highlights small improvements to the media-related legal framework in Serbia, such as thenew Law on Public Information and Media which regulates financial relations between the state and media outlets. However, as reiterated by the new report, efforts to reform legislation alone will not suffice if the Serbian government does not fully respect these regulations.Biased subsidies to media outlets, selective government advertising contracts, and manipulation regarding licensing continue to persist in the country.

“Breaking Promises, Blocking Reform: Soft Censorship in Mexico 2015 Update” (also available in Spanish) concludes that despite presidential promises, soft censorship – most conspicuously in the form of the partisan allocation of government advertising – remains a powerful impediment to a free, independent and pluralistic media in Mexico. Despite President Enrique Peña Nieto’s 2012 pledge to create a body to oversee government advertising, regulation of the sector remains weak. Lawmakers have failed to meet deadlines to establish a legal framework, while new legislation proposed by members of the Mexican Congress to regulate government advertising has not progressed. While positive developments such as a General Law on Transparency and Access to Public Government Information promises broad access to government advertising data, compliance has so far proven extremely weak.

Through more detailed research into soft censorship practices globally, WAN-IFRA and CIMA are drawing attention to the kinds of widespread and deleterious problems facing independent media that rarely generate the same level of international outrage as direct attacks on the press. The findings and recommendations of the soft censorship research series aim to contribute to the implementation of fair and transparent rules that are necessary for the development of independent media sectors around the world.

Country reports detailing soft censorship practices in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Montenegro are currently being finalised and will be published later in 2015.

Posted in: Advertising, Audits, Bribery, Cases, Europe, Mexico, Other Administrative Pressures, Paid News, Reports, Subsidies, Taxes | Tagged: Advertising, Audits, Bribery, Europe, General, Licenses, Other administrative pressures, Paid "News", Subsidies, Taxes, The Americas

Turkish newspaper Sözcü publishes empty columns to protest against increasing government pressure

Posted on September 1, 2015 Leave a Comment

Sözcü, a Turkish newspaper critical of the government, has left the slots for opinion columns empty to protest the government’s “increasing pressure”, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

“If Sözcü is silent, Turkey will be silent,” the newspaper’s headline said on Sept. 1, accusing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of “increasing pressure over the past year on opposition newspapers.”

Sözcü said it had faced 57 court cases and 67 criminal complaints over its news stories in the past year. Ten of its columnists were sued for compensation due to 60 articles, it added.

“President Erdoğan sues us for stories in which his name is not even mentioned. Stories mentioning his son’s or daughter’s name have become the subject of complaints. Their goal is to intimidate, pacify and control Sözcü and its columnists, while eliminating freedom of opinion and speech,” a front page editorial said.

The statement also referred to a well-known social media whistleblower nicknamed Fuat Avni, who recently claimed on Twitter that the government was “planning an operation to silence critical media” before the Nov. 1 election.

“No one from the government comes up and refutes this ugly claim, at which [pro-government circles] laugh up their sleeve,” Sözcü added, before vowing to “keep writing the truth despite the pressure that was not seen even during the coup eras.”

Source: Hurriyet Daily News “Turkish daily publishes empty columns on front page to protest gov’t” 1 September 2015 http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=238&nID=87803&NewsCatID=339

Posted in: Cases, Europe, Licenses, taxes, imports and audits, Other Administrative Pressures, Turkey | Tagged: Europe, Other administrative pressures, Turkey

Funding patterns influence media content in Albania

Posted on August 31, 2015 Leave a Comment

While the number of media outlets keeps increasing, the advertising market is hardly sufficient in Albania, according to the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).

As a result, there is a satisfactory pluralism of information, but there are problems with economic sustainability, which often directly affect journalists, the institution reports. Funding patterns and ownership structure of the media directly influence their editorial content, leading to continuous doubts about media independence and their pursuing of public interest.

Source: Konrad Anenauer Stiftung. BalkanMedia Media Map: http://www.kas.de/wf/en/71.13558/

Posted in: Advertising, Cases, Europe, Subsidies | Tagged: Advertising, Europe, Subsidies

Large fines imposed on media in Bulgaria can lead to self-censorship

Posted on August 3, 2015 Leave a Comment

The Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission has imposed two fines in January 2015 against Bulgarian media under the allegation that they were committing market manipulation through stories they published, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) reported.

The online portal zovnews.com was punished with a 50,000 EUR penalty for their reports on the banking sector; while the print media Capital and Dnevnik were punished with 80,000 EUR fines, and an additional fine of about €5,000 for refusing to reveal their sources.

SEEMO and its members condem such regulations, since they break freedom of speech and basic rights of reporting. Large fines will eventually lead media outlets directly into self-censorship. As SEEMO reminds, it is important that media can investigate free, without any pressure, important issues that are of public interest.

 

South East Europe Media Organisation: http://www.seemo.org/safty-news.html#BULGARIA20

Posted in: Cases, Europe, Other Administrative Pressures | Tagged: Europe, Other administrative pressures

A new fund for TV stations in Romania could distort the market

Posted on July 29, 2015 Leave a Comment

Through an emergency ordinance, the Romanian government has created a 15 million euro fund to help Romanian television stations, Index on Censorship reports. The ordinance, voted on 10 June 2015, has been criticized by various Romanian pressfreedom NGOs.

The NGOs say that the state subsidy will create a selective competition advantage, and distort the free market. They also point out that the second half of 2015 and 2016 is election period, and that therefore the intentions of the government are questionable. The credibility of the recipients of the funds can be also affected.

 

Source: Index on Censorship. Mapping media Freedom in Europe platform: https://mappingmediafreedom.org/reports/view/931

Posted in: Cases, Europe, Subsidies | Tagged: Europe, Subsidies

Murky ties among politicians, big business and the media found in the Balkans

Posted on June 26, 2015 Leave a Comment

Opaque funding, hidden ownership, murky ties among politicians, big business, and journalists, are all too common problems in the countries that once made up Yugoslavia, according to an article published in Nieman Reports.

The article, which covers several cases of alleges soft censorship practices in Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia and Macedonia, mentions fear of losing their jobs as an important reason journalists in mainstream media stay away from sensitive subjects.

It concludes, however, that having lost their jobs—or being unable to secure jobs at legacy titles in the first place—, many journalists have gone on to found the online outlets that are keeping investigative reporting alive in the Balkans.

Vladimir Radomirovic, “In the Balkans, Whistle-Blowing News Outlets Struggle to Survive”, NiemanReports

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Posted in: Europe, General, Licenses, taxes, imports and audits | Tagged: Europe, Other administrative pressures

Ever-growing self-censorship related to economic pressures in Turkey

Posted on June 18, 2015 Leave a Comment

The IPI special report on Turkey 2015, Democracy At Risk, points to the increased pressure on media in recent years, part of a drift toward authoritarianism that has led to a pervasive climate of self-censorship and one of the most troubling press freedom pictures in Europe.

Apart from bans on covering certain topics and direct pressures, the report  highlights the political leaders’ efforts to control media via huge tax fines, calls for boycotts, advertisement embargos, seizing media outlets and transferring their ownership to supporters, frustrating journalists with legal cases on insult claims, targeting opposition journalists with social media trolls, and cultivating Internet sites and columnists tasked with scaring and intimidating critics.

The report expresses concern about the “ever-growing self-censorship related to economic pressure, particularly as companies active in other economic sectors acquire ownership of a greater number of media outlets, sometimes at the alleged behest of government officials in exchange for favour”. According to the analysis, “those companies are, in turn, increasingly dependent on state contracts and government connections to survive, leaving journalists with the choice of suppressing critical reports or losing their job, which, amid a polarised media and political climate, effectively can equal loss of career”.

As the report summarizes, the effects of these pressures ara that “media owners suppress criticism to protect their profits, journalists suppress criticism to protect their jobs, and the Turkish people are left with- out information necessary to make informed decisions or hold leaders accountable”.

Read more: Steven M. Ellis (2015) Democracy at Risk. IPI Special Report on Turkey 2015. Vienna: International Press Institute: http://www.freemedia.at/fileadmin/resources/application/IPI_Special_Report_-_Turkey_2015_Final.pdf

 

Posted in: Advertising, Audits, Cases, Europe, Licenses, taxes, imports and audits, Taxes, Turkey | Tagged: Advertising, Audits, Europe, Other administrative pressures, Turkey

Investigation reveals advertising allocation breakdown of Northern England town halls

Posted on May 18, 2015 Leave a Comment

EUROPE – UK – ADVERTISING AND INFLUENCE

The responses to a series of Freedom of Information requests to six of the big city councils – Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Middlesbrough and Newcastle- reveal big differences in the amount spent in advertising, an investigation released in early 2015 found.

According to this analysis, millions of pounds is being spent by town halls at a time when local authorities are also being asked to make cuts to frontline services. The Manchester Evening News along with other Trinity Mirror owned papers in the north are revealed as the biggest earners from the statutory notices system required by law.

Manchester City Council has paid out more than £1.7m to news organisations to publish its public notices during the past five years. Newcastle Council spent a total of £1.9m on all forms of advertising in the same period, but was unable to separate out the statutory notices element. Equally, Middlesbrough Council confirmed that they spent a total advertising budget of £2.24M over the five years, but refused the Freedom of Information request on the basis that it would take too much time to work out the breakdown of suppliers and statutory notice payments.

In fact, the article stresses that the responses received varied greatly, with some of the councils being unable to provide full breakdowns of their spending.

 

Source: Sarah Hartley, Revealed: The true cost of advertising for local councils – Prolific North

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Posted in: Advertising, Cases, Europe | Tagged: Advertising, Europe

Tax investigations and arbitrary evictions used against media by Albania’s former government

Posted on May 11, 2015 Leave a Comment

The government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, which stepped down in September 2013 after the ruling Democratic Party (PD) lost the June parliamentary elections to the opposition Socialist Party (PS), used administrative mechanisms, including tax investigations and arbitrary evictions from state-owned buildings, to disrupt the operations of media outlets it perceived as hostile, according to Freedom House.

The press freedom organisation denounced that the partisan bent of many news outlets was visible during the 2013 election campaign, with the main television stations favouring either the PD or the PS in the amount or tone of their coverage. The election commission’s media rules were weakly enforced, and a decision by the panel in early June appeared to require broadcasters to air party-prepared footage during newscasts, disregarding a 2011 court ruling.

According to a 2013 report by the researcher Ilda Londo, the development of Albanian media during the last two decades can be divided in two phases: the first, from early to late 90s was marked by the so-called politically engaged media, while the second saw the emergence and expansion of clientelistic media. The pressure on the media became more sophisticated during the second period. Even if Albanian media rarely faced open threats or assaults on journalists, they rather experienced problems of an economic nature, such as financial pressure, distribution issues, non-transparent funding, ownership issues, difficult labour conditions and corruption in the media

 

Source: Ilda Londo (2013) Limited Assistance for Limited Impact: International Media Assistance in Albania. Sarajevo, Analitika and Albania Media Institute.

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Posted in: Audits, Cases, Europe, Licenses, taxes, imports and audits, Taxes | Tagged: Audits, Europe, Other administrative pressures, Taxes

Russia silences independent broadcaster

Posted on May 6, 2015 Leave a Comment

Broadcasting licenses of the award-winning channel TV-2 in Tomsk were withdrawn by the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRS) and the federal oversight body for telecommunications, as Freedom House reported in February 2015.

Its broadcasts were suspended for a month in spring 2014 due to technical difficulties of a local division of RTRS, the state monopoly that owns terrestrial air broadcasting facilities across the country; in November 2014, RTRS announced it would not renew TV-2’s contract after its expiration in December. Also, Roskomnadzor, the federal telecommunications agency, reversed its decision to renew its cable broadcasting license until 2025.

“The government’s haste and secrecy in silencing Tomsk’s only independent TV station shows that this broadcaster has become inconvenient to the state,” said Karin Deutsch Karlekar, director of the Freedom of the Press project at Freedom House. “TV-2 has become known in Tomsk, Russia, and abroad as a regional media outlet providing objective coverage of social, political and economic issues rarely covered by state-owned broadcasters. To lose such a champion is a serious blow to the dwindling freedom of speech in Russia.”

Russia is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2015, Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2014, Partly Free in Freedom on the Net 2014, and received a democracy score of 6.29 on a scale of 1-7, with 7 being the worst possible score, in Nations in Transit 2014. 

 

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Posted in: Cases, Europe, Licenses, Licenses, taxes, imports and audits | Tagged: Asia, Europe, Licenses, Other administrative pressures
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"Official 'soft censorship' describes an array of official actions intended to influence media output, short of legal or extra-legal bans, direct censorship of specific content, or physical attacks on media outlets or media practitioners."

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